This invention relates to sails for sailing vessels and more particularly to sails which are formed as one piece laminates on a mold.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,784 describes an adjustable mold upon which a one piece, laminated, three-dimensional sail may be formed. After adjusting the mold to the desired shape, a layer of film is applied to the mold surface. An overhead gantry then applies adhesively coated yarns to the base film layer in a three-dimensional fashion. A final layer of adhesively coated film is applied, and the assembly is laminated on the mold using heat and pressure.
The preparation of sails on a static mold is a time consuming process, especially since a moving gantry must be devised and used to apply individual yarns in a predefined fashion. In general, it would be desirable to simplify the procedure described in the above patent while still providing a laminated one piece sail in which the three-dimensional shape is molded into the sail.